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Today’s article is focussed on the usage of pen tool to remove the backgrounds and placing the main object on a new background with better look and appearance. You might have read many articles on the same topic so what is the difference here? Let us see to find out how pen tool works in removing the complex backgrounds.

Here are the series of steps to follow while removing the background with pen tool in Photoshop:

Open the image in Photoshop that you want to use pen tool on.

Go to the layers palette and pick pen tool from there. When you will click on any edge of the object, a new layer will be created which is called path layer.

For better and accurate precision, it is important to zoom in the image at 300% as it will give you a proper view of the edges of the object. However, you will be able to draw accurate paths.

Pen tool is the best to create the clipping path, in particular. To create a proper path, a little knowledge is essential on how to use the pen tool and its features like handles, anchor points and deleting the anchor points. But I am not going to complicate the process by taking a complex image. Start with a simple image that has fewer edges.

Start drawing the path around the object to be cut, once you complete the path and reach the starting point again. Once you reach, double click there or press Ctrl and click on the path thumbnail in the path palette at the right side.

Now is the time to give a smooth look to the selection for a smooth transition on a new background. Press Shift+F6 to apply the feather 0.5 pixels. This value varies from image to image.

Next, add layer mask so as to separate the selection from the background.

Go to the Adjustment layer to change the color as you like for the background.

Lastly, after checking if the clipping path has been applied accurately, enable or disable the layer mask. It will give you a view of if you have done the job perfectly.

Thanks for reading it through! This is all about the simplest pen tool to use for creating the clipping paths. Have a good day!